Urban flooding: one-dimensional modelling of the distribution of the discharges through cross-road intersections accounting for energy losses

Abstract

Many investigations have been carried out in order to develop models which allow the understanding of complex physical processes involved in urban flooding. The modelling of the interactions between overland flows on streets and flooding flows from rivers and sewer networks is one of the main objectives of recent and current research programs in hydraulics and urban hydrology. However, the modelling of the discharge distribution in the street network with crossroad needs further research due to the complexity of the flow through junctions. This paper outlines the ability of the improved one-dimensional CANOE software to simulate the street flows through the virtual network (developed under the Hy(2)Ville French National project framework) with several cross-roads. The improvements are done by adding in CANOE the energy losses coefficients deriving from the calibration phase based on the experimental study of the flow through small scale physical model of cross-road channels. Comparisons between 1D and 2D simulated distribution of discharges through the virtual network show a good agreement for the global distribution. However, large differences are observed focusing on the individual cross-road intersections in the virtual network.